Lord Barber of Ainsdale (Lab)

My Lords, I have Amendment 322 in this group, which requires the Secretary of State, after the establishment of the new arrangements to deliver fair pay in the social care sector, to set out a timetable and process for an assessment of whether this approach could deliver similar benefits in tackling labour market problems in other sectors of the economy. The assessment should also take account of the process of establishing the school support staff negotiating body, in effect restoring arrangements abolished in 2010 by the coalition Government. Setting up this new machinery in social care will be a major step forward in addressing the crisis in this sector. Low pay and poor working conditions are endemic across the sector, contributing to record levels of staff turnover and unfilled vacancies. This badly affects those who need care services and those who provide them. But this will be no simple matter establishing an entirely new bargaining structure for the first time in this part of the economy. All the parties—the Government, the employers and the trade unions—will need to navigate a number of significant complexities to establish this new body. How should the membership of both the employer and the trade union sides be constituted? What should be the practical working arrangements to bring the parties together to work constructively to address the huge challenges faced? Will there be resistance in the sector to the changes coming out of this initial process? If so, how can they be overcome to establish the new body with the credibility and authority it will need if it is to become an enduring positive part of the social care landscape? This will be a learning process for all involved, and this amendment is intended to ensure that the learning is effectively captured from the process to inform the consideration of whether similar fair pay agreements could deliver benefits and tackle labour market problems in other sectors. Agreements covering the terms and conditions across a sector exist in our major public services. In the private sector, as recorded in my register of interests, I also serve on the board of the JIB, the Joint Industrial Board, in the electrotechnical part of the construction industry, which brings together the employers’ body, the Electrical Contractors’ Association, with Unite the Union. Working together, they maintain the core collective agreement setting out the terms and conditions in that part of the economy. They also work together in delivering a hugely valuable card scheme, recognising the key skills of the individuals working in the sector. This was referred to in the earlier debate by the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey. In addition, they provide an effective dispute resolution process for member firms and workers in the industry with a very high success rate. Lessons can be learned in considering the possibility for other sectors from all these different arrangements. This is not to suggest that establishing new sectoral bargaining arrangements more widely in the economy is some kind of magic bullet, but in sectors with low pay, high turnover, recruitment and retention difficulties, and demonstrably inadequate investment in skills, they have the potential to play a part in transforming sectors that currently appear to have a labour market characterised by a race to the bottom to ones that build success based on decent pay and high labour standards. So, once the new social care body has been successfully established, let us develop a considered process, consulting all the relevant parties—employers, unions, ACAS—to learn the lessons and assess whether there are other sectors that could achieve similar benefits from such an approach. I hope that the Minister will be able to respond positively to this proposal. I beg to move.